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The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rests on a drone ship shortly after launching 21 Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida on Jan. 21, 2025. | Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites early this morning (Jan. 21), five days after a test flight of the company’s Starship megarocket ended in an explosion.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink satellites lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday at 12:24 a.m. EST (0524 GMT).
The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff as planned, touching down in the Atlantic Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas.”
It was the eighth launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Four of those flights have been Starlink missions.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, will carry the 21 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, deploying them there about 65 minutes after liftoff.
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This morning’s liftoff was the ninth Falcon 9 mission of 2025 and SpaceX’s 10th launch of the year overall. The other mission was the seventh-ever test flight of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket, which took place on Thursday (Jan. 16) from South Texas.
That flight was a mixed bag for the company. Starship’s giant first-stage Super Heavy booster came back to its launch site for a dramatic catch by the tower’s “chopstick” arms, but the vehicle’s upper stage exploded just 8.5 minutes after liftoff, apparently after suffering a propellant leak.
